1. Strategies for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural health system in New York state
- Author
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Kerry Filtz, Ryan Huff, Henry Weil, Steven Heneghan, Kathleen Yu, Liam Heneghan, Kelsey A. Clayman, Jamie A. Aron, Joseph A Cornett, Alexander J.B. Bulteel, Adam J. Richter, and Kenneth T. Hubbell
- Subjects
Hospitals, Rural ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Population ,New York ,Rural Health ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,State (polity) ,Environmental health ,Health care ,Pandemic ,Hospital Planning ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,education ,Pandemics ,media_common ,education.field_of_study ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Rural health ,Health Policy ,Retraining ,COVID-19 ,Telemedicine ,PPE conservation ,Emergency planning ,Communicable Disease Control ,Workforce ,Rural area ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Research and media reports about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have largely focused on urban areas due to their high caseloads. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presents distinct and under-recognized challenges to rural areas. This report describes the challenges faced by Bassett Healthcare Network (BHN), a health network in rural upstate New York, and the strategies BHN devised in response. The response to COVID-19 at BHN focused on 4 strategies: (1) Expansion of intensive-care capacity. (2) Redeployment and retraining of workforce. (3) Provision of COVID-19 information, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral testing, and appropriate follow-up for a geographically dispersed population. (4) Coordination of the response to the pandemic across a large, diverse organization. Rural health systems and hospitals can take steps to address the specific challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in their communities. We believe that the strategies BHN employed to adapt to COVID-19 may be useful to other rural health systems. More research is needed to determine which strategies have been most effective in responding to the pandemic in other rural settings.
- Published
- 2021
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